HOW TO PICKLE CUCUMBERS Recipe With Vinegar
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Pickled cucumbers are great to serve next to a steak, a stew or in burgers. Learn how to pickle cucumbers at home with this very easy, family recipe!
How To Pickle Cucumbers With Vinegar
My mom showed me how to pickle cucumbers at a very early age and I’ve been using this recipe for a lot of years, with great success. We enjoy serving homemade pickles with lots of our meals and even in salads. I even enjoy a slice or two of these delightful pickles as a snack, when I have a craving for something tart tasting. Cucumbers are low in calories but they’re a high source of vitamins and minerals. At about 10 calories per medium cucumber, these pickles are great to snack on!
Pickling cucumbers provides a convenient way to preserve cucumbers for several months. I absolutely love pickling cucumbers as well as other vegetables like Pickled Green Tomatoes or red bell peppers. I like canning my own stuff as I know all ingredients I use are healthy and good for my family, no preservatives or other chemicals involved.
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If you love pickles I’ll show you how to pickle cucumbers in just a minute; you can easily make your own pickles with this easy and quick pickled cucumbers recipe! You will totally enjoy canning cucumbers, your pickles will taste amazing and the recipe only takes a few simple ingredients. It’s not time consuming either! And if you have friends that like homemade stuff, you could use a pretty jar when making the pickles and offer it as a gift.
There are probably many recipes out there teaching how to pickle cucumbers but I swear by my mom’s pickled cucumber recipe! It gives such tasty, crisp pickles that are not too spicy or salty. This recipe pickles the cucumbers in vinegar rather than brine (which is also a tasty alternative but too heavy on sodium). Pickling in vinegar is a less aggressive process.
Ready to learn how to make pickled cucumbers? Check out these super easy steps!
How to pickle cucumbers
For 3 jars you’ll need:
- Fresh pickling cucumbers (dill cucumbers, kirby cucumbers or Gherkin are all great choices)
- Sugar
- Table salt
- Black peppercorn
- Mustard seeds
- Vinegar (white wine vinegar; do not replace with apple cider vinegar as it will taste completely different – not bad but different)
- Garlic cloves
- Dry bay leaves
- And of course water to fill the jars (pint jars or mason jars)
Note: Sometimes we like adding some fresh dill too. If you don’t have fresh dill, use 1/4 teaspoon dill seed per jar. If you like to make this recipe spicy, add some red pepper flakes. And sometimes we love adding a bit of cauliflower and carrots to the jars when making these dill pickles.
How do you pickle cucumbers?
1. Wash the cucumbers very well and keep only the healthy ones.
2. Sterilize jars well (here’s an article on the topic)
3. Place cucumbers in jars (don’t overcrowd them).
4. Pour vinegar to the bottom of the jar (about 2 fingers).
5. Put one teaspoon of sugar and one of salt in each jar. If you want to make sweet pickles (or sweeter), add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar.
6. Add spices: 2 large bay leaves (or 3 small), about 30 peppercorns and 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, per jar (if you chose to use garlic, put 2-3 cloves per jar at this stage).
7. Fill with water almost up to the rim.
8. Tightly screw the lid on.
9. Place jars in a large pot and cover with water up to the lid.
10. Bring to boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes.
11. Leave to cool for 1 hour, without removing from the pot.
12. Transfer to a baking sheet, bottoms up, and place in a pre heated oven on low, for 15 minutes. They’ll change color which is exactly what you want.
These pickles are good to serve after about 1 month. I like to allow them more time in the jar for the best flavor and we usually end up serving them after 2 months.
Once opened, jars should be stored in the fridge.
More Pickling Recipes You Might Like:
Homemade pickled cucumbers recipe
Ingredients
- 4 lbs fresh pickling cucumbers
- 3 teaspoons sugar
- 3 teaspoons salt
- peppercorns
- yellow mustard seeds
- white vinegar
- garlic optional; I didn't use as my daughter doesn't like it
- 6 large dry bay leaves or 9 small
- 3 jars
- water
Instructions
- Wash the cucumbers very well and keep only the healthy ones. Sterilize jars well
- Place into jars (don't overcrowd them).
- Add vinegar to the bottom of the jar (about 2 fingers).
- Put one teaspoon of sugar and one of salt in each jar. Add 2 large bay leaves (or 3 small), about 30 peppercorns and 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, per jar (if you chose to use garlic, put 2-3 cloves per jar at this stage).
- Fill with water almost up to the rim.
- Tightly screw the lid on. Place jars in a large pot and cover with water up to the lid.
- Bring to boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes. They'll start changing color.
- Leave to cool for 1 hour, without removing from the pot. Transfer to a baking sheet, bottoms up, and place in a pre heated oven on low, for 15 minutes. Good to serve after about 1 month.
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What do you consider a “low” temperature for the oven part? Once removed from the oven, should they stay upside down until cooled? I did this recipe last night and it’s a shame that I have to wait a month to see how they turned out but we’ll see. I have so many cucumbers that I would like to do more because it’s so easy but without a taste test, I’m leary about doing more. I would like to do more but make them sweeter and maybe make a dill batch. Anyway, it’s not much labor involved but the cost of mustard seed, wow!! Also, how do you think this would work for sweet peppers. I was given three huge boxes of plabano peppers. I already dehydrated one box but wanted to try pickling some.
170 is the lowest my gas oven goes, that’s what I use. I leave the jars in the oven to cool.
I haven’t made pickled sweet peppers myself but mom used to and the recipe is wuite similar. But she used to roast the peppers first and skipped the mustard.
I have reviewed this recipe several times and cannot locate the specific temperature for the oven. You state ‘low’ but what temperature is ‘low’? Would using more vinegar prevent pickle spears from getting too soft?
Rae, it depends on the type of oven you have. It’s usually around 275F or 135C. Adding more vinegar won’t make the pickles crispier, in my experience. This is the best ratio I found success with every time.
Can I cut my cucumbers into spears?
You can, Sheryl but they’ll get softer
My garlic has turned blue/green the next day
That’s very strange, Jade! Never heard of this issue. I would check the source of the garlic (and the rest of the ingredients), it definitely should not change color!
Don’t worry, this is completely normal and it’s safe to eat.
You can find an explanation here:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/garlic-turns-blue-when-pickled-1327752
Thanks, I’m glad someone said it lol
normal things do happen